An analysis of the angular momentum of a light field in terms of angular harmonics

S. N. Khonina Image Processing System Institute RAS, 151, Molodogvardejskaya st., 443001, Samara, Russia

V. V. Kotlyar Image Processing System Institute RAS, 151, Molodogvardejskaya st., 443001, Samara, Russia

V. A. Soifer Image Processing System Institute RAS, 151, Molodogvardejskaya st., 443001, Samara, Russia

P. Pääkkönen Department of Physics, University of Joensuu, PO Box 111, FIN-80101, Joensuu, Finland

J. Simonen Department of Physics, University of Joensuu, PO Box 111, FIN-80101, Joensuu, Finland

J. Turunen Department of Physics, University of Joensuu, PO Box 111, FIN-80101, Joensuu, Finland

Abstract

This paper proposes an optical interpretation for the Lie algebra's symmetry operators of the paraxial wave equation. In particular, the angular momentum operator is used to derive a relation for the expression of the angular momentum of an arbitrary light field in terms of angular harmonics. Furthermore, experimental results are presented demonstrating a filter that extracts angular harmonics from different Gauss-Laguerre modes.

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An analysis of the angular momentum of a light field in terms of angular harmonics

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